Palm Coast officials weigh stormwater fee hike

Tuesday

Dec 11, 2012 at 5:37 PM

FRANK FERNANDEZSTAFF WRITER

PALM COAST — The City Council will vote next week on whether to increase the city's stormwater fee from $8 to $11.65 per month. If the increase is approved, single-family residential homeowners would see the $3.65 monthly increase in their next billing cycle. City Manager Jim Landon cautioned that the city needs the $7.6 million the increased fee would generate to rebuild its aging stormwater drainage system. That's $2.3 million more than the $5.3 million the existing monthly fee of $8 would generate. If the council does not approve the rate hike next week, then the city would have to cut back on stormwater projects, Landon said. The city is awaiting bids on a project to replace three dams on three waterways in the Seminole Woods neighborhood at an estimated cost of about $1.2 million. The stormwater fee is based on an equivalent residential unit, or ERU, and each single-family home on a quarter-acre lot would be charged one ERU. But larger tracts of undeveloped land would pay 2.96 ERU's per billable acre after discounting any credits for wetlands, storm water retention ponds or similar features. That prospect upsets at least some developers. Some cities take the approach that the drainage system benefits everyone, so everyone should pay something, said Henry Thomas, a partner with PRMG, which was paid $26,000 by the city for a rate study. Mayor Jon Netts said that undeveloped land is still pouring water into the city's drainage system — canals, ditches and swales. Netts summed up how people would fall on the issue. "I can almost assure you that if my bill goes down, I'm going to be in favor of it," Netts said. "And if my bill goes up, I'm going to say it's unfair." Count Charlie Faulkner among those who argue it is unfair. Faulkner, a consultant and engineer who represents some landowners, said that vacant land populated only by pine trees in the city's western reaches does not need the city's drainage system. Faulker has a quick reply to city officials' contention that the city's drainage system keeps roads dry and therefore adds value to the vacant land. "Pine trees don't drive," Faulkner said after the meeting. Faulkner said the city's drainage system was built for the thousands of quarter acre lots developed by ITT when Palm Coast was first being built. It would now be wrong to bill the owners of vacant lands for something that does not benefit them, he said. "This is probably the most unfair thing I've seen a government do to people," Faulkner said. Clint Smith, a vice president at Palm Coast Holdings, which owns a lot of vacant land in the city, also opposes the fee. He said Palm Coast Holdings already gets a substantial bill. He added the company is trying to work with the city to reach a resolution. State statute exempts agricultural land. The city would charge undeveloped land at the rate of 2.96 ERUs per billable acre, said finance director Chris Quinn in an email. That would be multiplied by $11.65 per month, if the new rate is approved. The City Council reviewed a number of different complicated proposals with a myriad of numbers. Several were dismissed because they would not withstand a legal challenge, according to Landon.